Atlantic City Casinos Go Yellow for Holocaust Remembrance Day
Posted on: January 29, 2026, 10:54h.
Last updated on: January 29, 2026, 11:03h.
- Atlantic City casinos this week recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day
- All nine casinos lit up yellow, the Star of David color Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust
If you were in Atlantic City this week, you might have wondered why the towering casino resorts were lit up yellow. The Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ) says it was to recognize International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Through a partnership with the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University, all nine Atlantic City casinos changed their outdoor lighting to yellow at dusk on Tuesday, January 27. The color yellow symbolizes Holocaust awareness because it was the color of the Star of David badges that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust under Nazi Germany.
Atlantic City’s casinos are proud to join communities around the world in commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,” said Mark Giannantonio, CANJ and Resorts Atlantic City president. “As an industry, we are proud to illuminate our properties in yellow to honor the memory of the millions of men, women, and children who lost their lives in the Holocaust. This day reminds us of the responsibility we all share to remember, to educate, and to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated.”
Giannantonio, a Stockton graduate, took a Holocaust and Genocide Studies class while attending the nearby New Jersey university, which today has an Atlantic City campus.
Atlantic City Casinos Unified
Atlantic City’s casinos recognizing International Holocaust Remembrance Day is new, with the program initiated only last year. Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez, the director of Stockton’s Holocaust Resource Center, approached Giannantonio in 2025 about having the casinos light up yellow.
Seven of the nine casinos obliged last January 27. Borgata and Harrah’s were the exceptions.
As the Atlantic City casinos illuminate in yellow, let us take this opportunity to be reminded that from darkness, we are responsible for bringing forth light,” said Moreno-Rodriguez. “By joining this global commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, our casinos and the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University stand, as a united front, to honor the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust and to serve as a social bulwark against antisemitism and all forms of hate.”
New Jersey is home to the fourth-largest Jewish population in the United States, behind only New York, California, and Florida. Estimates regarding the Jewish population in the Garden State range from 580K to 630K residents.
Casino Causes
Along with Holocaust Remembrance, the Atlantic City casinos last October lit up pink to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and get people talking about early screening and prevention.
Many of the casinos also donated proceeds to the American Cancer Society from promotions and themed cocktails, like a pink cosmopolitan at Resorts.
Last September, casino employees additionally walked the Boardwalk to support suicide prevention. The annual “Out of the Darkness Community Walk” has raised more than $1 million since 2020.
No comments yet